Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE AMEX: INO) today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.
Total revenue was $1.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2012, compared to $3.1 million for the same period in 2011. Total operating expenses were $5.9 million compared to $7.5 million. The net loss attributable to common stockholders was $8.3 million, or $0.06 per share, compared to $2.4 million, or $0.02 per share.
Revenue
The decrease in revenue for the comparable periods was primarily due to timing of work performed under the company's contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). This contract revenue amounted to $1.5 million versus $2.7 million, respectively. This NIAID contract, which exceeds $23 million over five years (plus two additional option years), is facilitating Inovio's development of a universal, preventive HIV DNA vaccine, PENNVAX®-GP.
Operating Expenses
Research and development expenses for Q1 2012 were $4.0 million compared to $4.4 million for Q1 2011. General and administrative expenses were $2.5 million versus $3.3 million, respectively.
Net Loss Attributable to Common Stockholders
The $5.9 million increase in net loss for the comparable periods resulted primarily from a significant (non-cash) change in fair value of common stock warrants, based on a required quarterly mark to market adjustment to reflect changes in the Company's stock price, and decrease in grant revenue.
Capital Resources
As of March 31, 2012, cash and cash equivalents plus short-term investments in certificates of deposit, mutual funds, and municipal bonds were $25.0 million compared with $30.3 million as of December 31, 2011.
Based on management's projections and analysis, the Company believes that cash and cash equivalents are sufficient to meet its planned working capital requirements into the third quarter of 2013.
Inovio's balance sheet and statement of operations is provided below. Form 10-Q providing the complete 2012 first quarter financial report can be found at: http://ir.inovio.com/secfilings.
Corporate Update
Clinical Development
During the first quarter Inovio reported significant vaccine-specific T-cell responses from its HIV-001 open label, phase I study, which enrolled 12 adult HIV-positive volunteers to assess safety and levels of immune responses generated by Inovio's PENNVAX®-B vaccine delivered with its CELLECTRA® electroporation device. The results affirmed best-in-class immune responses reported last year from Inovio's HVTN-080 phase I study of PENNVAX-B in healthy volunteers.
Enrollment is ongoing in Inovio's phase II clinical study of VGX-3100 for cervical dysplasia. Data is expected in the second half of 2013. The company's collaborators, the University of Southampton and ChronTech Pharma AB, continue their enrollment of patients in phase II studies of DNA vaccines for leukemia and hepatitis C virus, respectively, with interim data anticipated in the second half of 2012.
We expect to report data from two phase I influenza studies, one for our synthetic vaccine focused on H5N1 influenza, the other for our synthetic universal vaccine targeting H5N1 and H1N1, in the second quarter.
Preclinical Development
During the quarter we announced data from multiple research and preclinical programs.
Synthetic vaccines for influenza Type A H3N2 and Type B achieved protective antibody responses in immunized animals against multiple unmatched strains from the years 2000 through 2012, progressing our universal influenza vaccine strategy.
Inovio's new skin electroporation technology significantly enhanced delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules to skin and also demonstrated gene knockdown (silencing) in animal studies.
Inovio's SynCon® therapeutic vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6 and 11, associated with head & neck cancers and genital warts, induced strong antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in mice, mirroring robust T-cell responses induced by VGX-3100 in earlier mice studies.
Corporate & Business Development
Inovio received a patent covering its synthetic consensus influenza H1 antigen, which relates to our H1N1 influenza constructs and INO-3510 universal influenza vaccine.
Inovio was awarded a U.S. Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research Grant to advance a low-cost, non-invasive surface electroporation delivery device and test its utility in combination with Inovio synthetic vaccines against viruses with bioterrorism potential.
Niranjan Y. Sardesai, Ph.D., was promoted to Chief Operating Officer and is now responsible for corporate and business development in addition to overseeing research and development.
Dr. Anthony Ford-Hutchinson, recently retired from his role as Senior Vice President, Vaccines Research and Development at Merck, joined Inovio's Scientific Advisory Board.
Dr. Adel Mahmoud was appointed to Inovio's Board of Directors. He is a professor at Princeton University, was President, Merck Vaccines, from 1999 to 2005, and also served as Merck's Chief Medical Advisor for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases.
Inovio has an expanding dialog with vaccine and biotechnology companies as well as non-governmental and government agencies with the goal of securing non-dilutive funding for its vaccine programs and potentially new collaborations and partnerships to advance the development and commercialization of its SynCon® vaccine platform and specific SynCon vaccines.
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